In the bin and out of mind is the approach many take to rubbish - but a young designer wants to change this and is seeking the help of Northland businesses.
Whangarei's Ash Holwell visited the Puwera Landfill to kick off his involvement with Rekindle's "Resource: Rise Again" challenge, which asks designers around the country to investigate waste streams and create useful objects from things bound for the tip.
The dump, 10km south of Whangarei, is equipped to handle 3 million tonnes of rubbish and is a sight everyone should confront, Mr Holwell said. "It is pretty shocking what's going [there] and what we're creating, and it is extremely hidden. Not many people even know where it is."
At Purewa, rubbish sits atop about 4m of gravel and clay, which hug a felt layer coated in a substance that solidifies when it gets wet - the idea being no nasties can permeate into the ground. There are multiple testing stations around the landfill, and the nearby stream's pH levels are taken every half an hour, while the dump's "juice" is pumped away to Whangarei's wastewater treatment plant.
While the amount of household rubbish going to landfill was undoubtedly a huge problem, it more often comprised products like excess plastic that "just needed to not exist".